Three Lithuanian coastal cities apply for European Capital of Culture status for 2022

BNS

2016 m. may 19 d. 17:11

Foto: Klaipėdos sav. nuotr.

Klaipėda, Neringa and Palanga, three municipalities on the Lithuanian coast of the Baltic Sea, seek to become the European Capital of Culture in 2022 and have proposed a joint program called Rising to Wind that will emphasize the region's multicultural features, the Klaipėda City Municipality said on Thursday.

"It was not only Klaipeda, Neringa and Palanga that united for the common uniting aspiration of becoming the European Capital of Culture, but the entire Klaipeda region, which is undoubtedly one of the most ambitious and promising in Lithuania. Members of its community chose a new course of development based on cultural breakthrough, which will allow for the transformation of the Klaipėda region into a significant cultural center of Lithuania within five or six years," Klaipėda Mayor Vytautas Grubliauskas said in the press release.

The title of the European Capital of Culture is granted to a maximum of two European cities every year. For 2022, the right to nominate cities has been granted to Lithuania and Luxembourg. City applications will be processed by an international panel, with the winners to be finalized in 2017.